The mascot of the Alvarado Street Bakery (ASB) is an orange and black cat, with a swinging tail and a sly grin. Perhaps his feisty smile is the result of good working conditions. ASB is the worker owned and run cooperative featured in Michael Moore’s recent film Capitalism: A Love Story as an example of economic democracy. ASB is based in Petaluma, California, but ships nationally through their website. In this interview, Joseph Tuck of ASB tells The Socialist about the company’s practices.

From grocery stores and bakeries to bike shops and day care centers, worker-owned cooperatives are gaining popularity across the country. How are they faring in the recession? What solutions do co-ops offer for today’s recession/depression? If they gain even more popularity, could they transform the economy and the way we think it should work?

Guests include Dan Thomases, a founding member of Box Dog Bikes co-op, John Kusakabe of the Arizmendi Bakery co-op, and Hilary Abell of Women's Action to Gain Economic Security (WAGES).

The future of humans and Planet Earth depend on replacing the "greed-driven" economic system of Wall Street with the "life-serving" system of Main Street.

That was the message that David Korten, author Agenda for a New Economy, and co-founder of Yes! magazine, brought to the 58th annual conference of the Association of Cooperative Educators in Cleveland on Wednesday.

On Thursday, September 18, the U.S. Mission to the U.N. held a Green Business discussion panel at U.N. Headquarters. The panel was diverse to the extent that the Corporate representatives were also met by a consultant and NGO representative. The subjects focussed on the corporate level views of the issues, including Cap and Trade Markets. Some audience input also contributed to deepening the conversation. My topic was certification, and was met by a negative and skeptical view of "legitimacy," although later comments acknowledged important examples. I am beginning to evaluate the communication process and the information structure which I as an advocate of solidarity economics and the World Social Forum can develop.

Ecopalooza is a web portal and event calendar for the promotion of green living expos, fairs, festivals, conferences, workshops and other sustainability events throughout North America. Ecopalooza website is a project of Ecopalooza Green Events Network, which also sponsors occasional green events in the Redwood North Coast bioregion of Northern California. The primary focus of Ecopalooza's networking activity is is on the bioregional, plant-based diet and youth aspects of the sustainability revolution.